Comparative Metabolomic Analysis of Rapeseeds from Three Countries.

Rapeseed is an important oilseed with proper fatty acid composition and abundant bioactive components. Canada and China are the two major rapeseed-producing countries all over the world. Meanwhile, Canada and Mongolia are major importers of rapeseed due to the great demand for rapeseed in China.

Rapid determination of phytosterols by NIRS and chemometric methods.

Phytosterols have been extensively studied because it plays essential roles in the physiology of plants and can be used as nutritional supplement to promote human health. We use a rapid method by coupling near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and chemometric techniques to quickly and efficiently determine three essential phytosterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol) in vegetable oils. Continuous wavelet transform (CWT) method was adopted to remove the baseline shift in the spectra.

Coupling oligonucleotides possessing a poly-cytosine tag with magnetic ionic liquids for sequence-specific DNA analysis.

Oligonucleotide probes were designed with a poly-cytosine region that facilitates stable anchoring to a magnetic ionic liquid support. By tethering a recognition sequence to the poly-C tag, the resulting diblock oligonucleotides distinguished single-nucleotide variants and captured DNA targets from interfering genomic DNA and cell lysate for qPCR amplification.

Community composition, diversity, and metabolism of intestinal microbiota in cultivated European eel (Anguilla anguilla).

The intestinal tract, which harbours tremendous numbers of bacteria, plays a pivotal role in the digestion and absorption of nutrients. Here, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to determine the community composition and complexity of the intestinal microbiota in cultivated European eels during three stages of their lifecycle, after which the metabolic potentials of their intestinal microbial communities were assessed. The results demonstrated that European eel intestinal microbiota were dominated by bacteria in the phyla Proteobacteria and Fusobacteria.

Rapid and sensitive detection of the phenoxy acid herbicides in environmental water samples by magnetic solid-phase extraction combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

Phenoxy acid herbicides are widely used herbicides that play an important role in improving the yield and quality of crops. However, some research has shown that this kind of herbicide is poisonous to human and animals. In this study, a rapid and sensitive method was developed for the detection of seven phenoxy acid herbicides in water samples based on magnetic solid-phase extraction followed by liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry.

Using stable isotope labeling to study the nitrogen metabolism in Anabaena flos-aquae growth and anatoxin biosynthesis.

Freshwater resources are under stress around the world due to rapid urbanization and excessive water consumption. Cyanobacterial blooms have occurred frequently in surface waters, which produced toxic secondary metabolites causing a potential harm to aquatic ecosystems and humans. In this study, the relationship between different types of nitrogen source and the algal growth of Anabaena flos-aquae, which was isolated from Dianchi Lake in southern China, was investigated.

Analysis of trace microcystins in vegetables using matrix solid-phase dispersion followed by high performance liquid chromatography triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry detection.

A selective and sensitive method for the simultaneous determination of five common microcystins (MC-LR, -RR, -YR, -LW, -LF) in various vegetables was established using Matrix Solid-Phase Dispersion (MSPD) followed by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry detection. To optimize the pretreatment procedure for extracting the microcystins from three vegetable matrices (tomato, cucumber and spinacia, which represented different colors), Box-Behnken design was employed to optimize the main factors affecting the extraction efficiency, including sample/dispersant mass ratio, as well as the proportion mixture dispersant and the volumes of solvent. Based on the optimum conditions, the intra-day and inter-day variability for each microcystins in all vegetable samples were less than 8.

Nutrient Intake Is Associated with Longevity Characterization by Metabolites and Element Profiles of Healthy Centenarians.

The relationships between diet and metabolites as well as element profiles in healthy centenarians are important but remain inconclusive. Therefore, to test the interesting hypothesis that there would be distinctive features of metabolites and element profiles in healthy centenarians, and that these would be associated with nutrient intake; the short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), total bile acids and ammonia in feces, phenol, -cresol, uric acid, urea, creatinine and ammonia in urine, and element profiles in fingernails were determined in 90 healthy elderly people, including centenarians from Bama county (China)-a famous longevous region-and elderly people aged 80-99 from the longevous region and a non-longevous region. The partial least squares-discriminant analysis was used for pattern recognition.

Rapid and sensitive detection of fipronil and its metabolites in edible oils by solid-phase extraction based on humic acid bonded silica combined with gas chromatography with electron capture detection.

Solid-phase extraction based on humic acid bonded silica followed by gas chromatography with electron capture detection was developed to determine fipronil and its metabolites in edible oil. To achieve the best extraction performance, we systematically investigated a series of solid-phase extraction parameters. Under the optimized conditions, the method was validated according to linearity, recovery, and precision.

Size-dependent modulation of graphene oxide-aptamer interactions for an amplified fluorescence-based detection of aflatoxin B1 with a tunable dynamic range.

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a common toxin found in many foods. While AFB1 sensors have been reported, few studies have shown amplified detection with tunable dynamic ranges. We herein report a simple and highly sensitive amplified aptamer-based fluorescent sensor for AFB1, which relies on the ability of nano-graphene oxide (GO) to protect aptamers from nuclease cleavage for amplified detection and on the nanometer size effect of GO to tune the dynamic range and sensitivity.

Photoluminescence properties of a new orange-red-emitting Sm(3+)-La3SbO7 phosphor.

The antimonate compound La3SbO7 has high chemical stability, lattice stiffness and thermal stability. Orange-red-emitting antimonate-based phosphors La3SbO7:xSm(3+) (x = 0.02, 0.

Preparation of mesoporous ZrO2-coated magnetic microsphere and its application in the multi-residue analysis of pesticides and PCBs in fish by GC-MS/MS.

A novel mesoporous ZrO2 immobilized magnetic Fe3O4 microsphere (m-ZrO2@Fe3O4) was successfully synthesized and characterized by transmission electron microscope (TEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), nitrogen adsorption measurement (NAM), energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Then the resultant m-ZrO2@Fe3O4 and an n-octadecylphosphonic acid modified magnetic microsphere (Fe3O4-OPA) were employed as clean-up co-adsorbents of QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, Safe) method for the analysis of 42 pesticides and 7 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish samples. Lipid co-extractives such as fatty acids in QuEChERS extracts could be efficiently removed through the Lewis acid-Lewis base interaction between m-ZrO2@Fe3O4 and carboxylic groups, while some other apolar interferents could be adsorbed through hydrophobic interaction by Fe3O4-OPA.